MachineGames is working on a sequel to a game that was memorable in its time, and living up to it will be no easy task…
In an interview on the Lucasfilm website, Craig Derrick, Executive Producer at Lucasfilm Games, who is working on the next adventures of the hated treasure hunter as the game’s producer, talked about how much he likes Todd Howard’s concept: “For an Indiana Jones adventure to truly shine, it needs to be a globe-trotting journey with a strong historical element – something grounded in reality yet wrapped in mystique or relevance. With The Great Circle, Todd Howard and the team at MachineGames struck gold by centering the story around a real-world mystery: A number of ancient sites around the world align in a perfect, unbroken circle, but the reason for this alignment has eluded mankind for centuries.
The more I learned, the more intrigued I became with the idea. We delved into what kind of MacGuffin could be tied to all these places, and how each place could be authentically represented in the context of Indy’s life. This process of exploration and discovery fueled the game’s world-building from the beginning, ensuring that every aspect of the story was both true to the character and engaging for the player,” Derrick said.
He also talked about how he wanted The Great Circle to be the spiritual sequel to the 1992 LucasArts game Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (which was a point-and-click adventure game): “From uncovering and investigating the story’s central mystery, to solving unique situations along the way, to outsmarting traps designed to keep the world’s secrets hidden, we wanted the player’s primary focus to be on using their brains before their brawn, although beating up bad guys is also a lot of fun.
In many ways, we envisioned this game as a spiritual successor to Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and other classic adventure games. It’s about thinking, discovering, tracking down clues, and sometimes just a little bit of luck to get past the various traps, tombs, and threats you encounter – all while capturing that over-the-top Saturday matinee feel that defines an Indiana Jones adventure,” Derrick added.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be released on December 9 for Xbox Series and PC (and will also be on Xbox Game Pass), and it’s official that a PlayStation 5 port is in the works (presumably at Disney’s request: they also own Lucasfilm Games), which will arrive sometime in the spring.
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